I need your help: does anyone have one of these?...and more on the '66

3:19:00 PM

Happy Saturday, everyone!

What's everyone been up to?

Today my husband and I took the kids out for a nice long walk up to the UPS store (our PS3 bit the dust last year, and I just discovered that you can trade your old electronics and books, etc., in on Amazon.com for gift cards; last week we sent in our old cell phones and a text book of hubby's for some Amazon.com gift cards...every penny counts...who knows how much we'll get for all of this, but we're not out anything since they pay the shipping - woot!)

all dressed up and ready to go out on an adventure!

Anywho.

We also hit World Market (man, I freaking LOVE that store, I could spend hours in there... not only for all of the housewares/decorating stuff, but for the Canadian and British candies/foods we can get there - YUM) because I wanted to pick up some new knobs for the sewing machine table my $20 Singer 66-16 is in. I plan on refinishing the table when my mum comes back to visit in June. That kinda stuff is right up her alley. I picked up these knobs:
image courtesy of World Market.com

Image courtesy of World Market.com
for the two doors on the front of the cabinet. I love the pretty turquoise color accented with the nickel. I'm trying to stay Art-Deco-ish since the table and machine are from '41. Not sure if I'm super period appropriate with these knobs, probably should have gone with glass, but, I digress.

Speaking of the Singer 66, I've had a fabulous response from all of my readers about my shenanigans with respect to my refurbishing project, which I really appreciate.

I would say that about 65% of my readers are around my age (thirties and forties), and it makes me really excited to be so very encouraged about fixing this 73-year old machine up by a generation of sewists and quilters who have electronic computerized machines (myself included!) which cost more than my first car (true!) and do everything but wash the dishes.

I'm proud of myself for doing this. How many women own their own soldering guns? know what a commutator is? know how to wrap a wire with polyolefin 2:1 heat shrink tubing?

I do. Because I read a few manuals, did a bit of research, spent a few pennies, and I'm getting my hands a little dirty.

I may completely, 100% fail at this project, but at least I wasn't scared to try. And hopefully in the process I saved a beautiful machine from an untimely demise (because who knows what would have happened to her if I hadn't been lucky enough to find her on eBay).

And who knows?

Hopefully this beaut will be around another 73 years, and my daughter (or future daughter-in-law) will be sewing with it long after I'm gone.

I'll continue to blog about this, and will try to update weekly about it. But the point of this little tangent is this:

if I can do it, you can do it. :) And thank you, thank you, thank you! for all of your awesome emails and comments with respect to "The Singer 66-16 Project" here at Sew at Home Mummy.

So! On that note: a little update.

I wish I had taken a picture of these light pieces before I took the medical tape holding them all together apart. And the sticky gunk that was left behind was unreal; pulled out the Goo Gone.

You can see the gunk a bit in the picture above along the rim of the actual fixture (that cream/white looking stuff above the wires)

Last night I scrubbed all of the pieces of the fixture, got all of the gunk off, and Gorilla Glued the broken pieces together. We'll see if it holds when I go to slide the wires and switch back through.
(blue painter's tape is just to hold the pieces together while the glue dries).

My new wiring came in the mail yesterday from Sew Classic (I bought 18g SPT-2 for the light, electric cord, and foot pedal cord, and 18g SPT-1 for the motor re-wiring). Just waiting for my ring terminal ends to come in the mail so that I can start re-wiring stuff.

the Singer 66-16 Project is to be continued... stay tuned...

Now! I have a question for my readers, and need your help.

Do any of you have a quilting frame for your home sewing machine? Not a long-arm?

And by a frame, I mean one like this (only as an example, I know there are other brands out there, but this one seems to be the most popular in my searches):
image courtesy of The Grace Company

does anyone out there have one of these?

As some of you may know, money is super tight here - we're trying desperately to save for a house on a single income. As such, we have a tight budget for things, but, we do allot ourselves a small amount of spending money every paycheck. So for big things, I need to save for a while...and this would be a big purchase.

If you have one of these quilting frames for your home machine, I'd love to ask you some questions about it; I can't seem to find much info or more than one or two bloggers whom have written about the frames.

I feel like if I'm going to try and save this much money over the next year or two to buy one of these frames I really need to research it because I'll be really peeved (< editing here) if I buy one and it's a pain in the tookish to use or doesn't work well, etc.

Thanks in advance to anyone who may be able to help me out on this one!


please note that this post contains affiliate links (to Amazon.com) and in accordance with FTC law, I must disclose this.

You Might Also Like

8 comments

  1. I'm a 20 something follower and I think it's great you're restoring an older sewing machine. I also own my own soldering iron, know what a commutator is, and how to wrap heatshrink, but I have a degree in that "stuff". I don't really think the woman qualifier was necessary, though, because most men I know don't fit that bill either - but good for you learning how to do this!!! I'm eagerly awaiting progress on the '66 :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Years ago I had a frame that worked with a home machine. It was the original one that Handi Quilter came out with and it clamped onto a table. The frame and the carriage for the machine were fine and using it allowed me to make quilts where the top and the backing were nice and smooth and no basting was required. The main limitation proved to be the machine. A machine without a lot of throat space really limits what you can do. While the frame is big enough to fit a large quilt, as it rolls up it takes up a lot of space in the throat of the machine and that means little room for quilting. Later I got a Juki with a large throat which helped considerably. So I would remind you to consider the machine you will use with the frame in addition to the frame itself. I eventually upgraded to a mid-arm. I hope you will be able to find something that works for you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Can't help much with your request. They only thing I know about these frames is that the wooden ones tend to be wobbly compared to metal frames. Or so I was told!
    Good luck!
    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a friend to connect you with. She uses a frame for her home sewing machine AND she fixes up vintage machines! She would be a great resource for you. =)

    Michelle @ http://lifewithlou.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had the Grace wooden frame, but as Lisa Marie said, the throat space on the sewing machine is crucial. The newer machines with the wide harp would provide much more room for quilting. A regular machine's harp space is quickly taken up as you roll the quilt leaving only a couple of inches for actual sewing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know nothing about frames sorry, I'm super impressed with your work on the machine though and those knobs are gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm a little late to the party - sorry! I have a New England Quilting frame that I bought second hand last year. It's great but as others have said I would really struggle to use it with a normal domestic machine due to the limitations of the throat space - mine came with a Juki. Have you considered looking out for a used one so that you can get it a little cheaper?

    ReplyDelete

I ♥ to hear from you!

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment or for asking me a question. Rather email me? Reach out at sewathomemummy@gmail.com.

I like to email everyone back when they've commented - so if you're a no-reply blogger, make sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can share the love back atcha!